Generally, in gas turbine engines an inlet guide vane may include a plurality of variable vanes of a strut-flap design to properly direct air flow to downstream airfoils, necessary to achieve high performance. The gap between the upstream strut and the downstream flap typically needs to be very small to prevent unacceptable leakage from the pressure side to the suction side. As a result, tight tolerances or individual custom fabrication is required for the strut-flap design; thus, increasing costs for manufacturing.
Improvements in the strut-flap design of an inlet guide vane is therefore needed in the art.